


rigor mortis

by vox_nihilio



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Angst, Audio 049: Master, Gen, Gore, Implied/Referenced Suicide, One Shot, Post-Time War (Doctor Who), Time War (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23960050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vox_nihilio/pseuds/vox_nihilio
Summary: "But then surely Death will punish you even more?" says the assassin who refused his tea.The Seventh Doctor sighs."I don't think my guilt and torment will ever end."Death and the Doctor in the wake of the Time War.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	rigor mortis

A long time ago, a man did not kill.

This is false.

He killed indirectly, but his own two hands were clean.

This is false.

There was a rock on Gallifrey stained red once. There was a pyre burning.

It burns still, always has been burning perhaps.

The Doctor did not expect to survive.

(This is false, there had been a whisper "You will live" but he had blocked it out of his mind. What he forgot was not important if it led to him living. If he knew no future version of himself was at risk, he could burn too) 

The Doctor was stoic at first, letting the hungry flames feast on the leather. But then the flames reached his skin, and then the flames reached the refuge ships of children, and he screamed. 

He collapsed to the floor, his entire being boiling, and the expression that melted off his face to the floor was relief. 

But the wheezegroan of the Tardis wafted around him with a terrible screeching sound that made what remained of his hearts twist. He tried to scream again, but the melted flesh was choking up his vocal cords. He would've pleaded with her telepathically, but his mind was a cave filled with a million dying orchestras, their instruments all hitting the wrong notes. The players still going as the Titanic burned into the sea, except he was the only one with a lifeboat.

As whatever awareness he had finally surrendered to the smoke of the TARDIS, he thought he heard familiar laughing.

He awoke gasping in the remains of charred bone and burnt blood on the TARDIS floor.

There were fingers carding over his scalp, nails too sharp to be a comfort. He opened his dry eyes and his breath caught.

"I did tell you," Death said smiling at him, her face was lovely and much too beautiful. "But you never were one for listening, were you Doctor?"

He scrambled off her back back back until he hit the Tardis console. He would have worried about a bruise, but he refused to be alive long enough to care. 

"You," his voice sounded like nails, it felt even worse. "You."

"Oh come now, don't blame me." She came closer and he was shaking. He tried to grip the console and pull himself up, but his new knees buckled and he fell into the arms of Death. 

She wrapped her arms around him in a mockery of an embrace, one hand clawing up and down his bare back, the other cradling his head. He tried to pull away from her cruel, cold skin, but she was Death herself, and her strength knew no bounds. 

"Oh Doctor," she crooned in his ear rocking them side to side. He kept trying to pull away. "You were my champion in the end." The Doctor made a low keening noise.

"All the talk about not taking an innocent life, and where did it get you, hm?" Death whirled, delighted, as if the Tardis were a ballroom. The doctor had no choice but to stumble along.

"Stop." He said, trying not to vomit over her shoulder. "Please." 

"I told you! I told you there would be consequences!"

"Stop." 

She finished the dance with a move that collided him against her chest. Death grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look into her blazing eyes.

"You broke the deal." She whispered. "You broke my deal." 

The Doctor is sitting in a cafe drinking tea with a man, who is actually a woman who is much too beautiful. The Doctor is in an empty Tardis and sobbing as Death caresses the back of her finger up his cheekbone. 

"And this is your consequence."

The doctor made a horrible choked noise and sank to his knees, head bowed close to the floor as he clutched her white dress. 

"Please."

Death chuckled above him.

"Please." 

Death laughed and laughed until the Doctor looked up and saw nothing but the shattered console.

**Author's Note:**

> This references events and quotes (in the summary) from the big finish audio "Master", in which the Doctor makes two deals with Death that he fails to keep. 
> 
> It is also revealed that as a child he murdered a bully with a rock, and burnt his body, hand in hand with the master. They both forgot who actually did the murder because the Doctor made a deal with Death for the Master to be their champion instead of him.
> 
> Very cheery stuff obviously, but a very good audio.


End file.
